


The Wrong Door

by JohnAmendAll



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Obscure and British Commentfest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-01
Updated: 2014-06-01
Packaged: 2018-02-03 01:41:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1726520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JohnAmendAll/pseuds/JohnAmendAll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's an easy mistake to make, when you're staying in an unfamiliar house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wrong Door

**Author's Note:**

> For the Obscure and British commentfest 2014, from the prompt 'Classic Who, Ace McShane/Shou Yuing, it's a good mistake' by ladymercury_10.

"Oh!" 

It wasn't like Ace to be lost for words, but it was obvious that she'd blundered into the wrong bedroom at precisely the wrong moment. Shou Yuing had obviously used the shower immediately before Ace, and was now apparently occupied in drying her long black hair, with nothing but a skimpy towel thrown carelessly around her body. 

"Gordon Bennett!" Ace blurted out, feeling herself blushing. "Sorry, I didn't mean..." 

At the sound of her voice, Shou Yuing had dropped her comb and spun round, clutching the towel protectively. At the sight of Ace's expression, though, she let out an undeniable giggle. 

"I just got the wrong door, OK?" Ace ploughed on. 

"Don't go!" Shou Yuing said hastily, as Ace started to back out of the room. "It's all right. Come in." 

Ace took a couple of steps forward. 

"Look, I don't care how much of me you see," Shou Yuing went on. "Not after... you know. When we were in the circle." 

"S'pose not," Ace admitted. The spell that had been attacking them had taught them each other's deepest insecurities. Compared to that, what was so bad about a glimpse of dark hair on a bare shoulder? No, 'bad' wasn't the right word for that at all. 

"Hang on, I'm nearly finished." Shou Yuing retrieved her comb and resumed her activities. "Sit down if you'd rather." 

Trying to ignore the fact that her mouth felt oddly dry, Ace looked around for something to sit on. Shou Yuing had the only chair, so Ace perched on the end of the bed. 

"Got a question for you," Shou Yuing said. "How come you showed up same time as Ancelyn and Morgaine and everything? You don't look like you're from their... parallel world or whatever it is." 

Ace shook her head. "No, that was because of Excalibur. It was sending out a signal for Merlin." 

"And everyone thinks the Doctor's Merlin." Shou Yuing set down her comb, crossed to the bed, and sat down beside Ace. 

"Well, he is, sort of," Ace said. "Or maybe he will be, one day." 

"And you're the Lady of the Lake." 

Ace shivered. "Nearly drowned being her." 

"I'm so glad you didn't." 

"Yeah, so am I." Ace remembered the lake water crashing down on her, and the darkness, cold and pressure as Excalibur dragged her to the surface. "Wonder what happened to the Lady of the Lake in the end? The kid's books I read never said." 

"Dunno. If I was back at uni I could look it up on Gopher, but I bet there's no Internet here." 

Ace decided not to ask what an Internet was, or how you were supposed to look things up on a burrowing American rodent. Instead, she said "Just wondered if it said what happened to her." 

"You mean, did she end up with some handsome prince?" Shou Yuing sounded oddly tentative. "Or maybe she wasn't into princes." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" It came out far more defensively than Ace had meant. 

"Nothing. I was just saying, some girls have relationships with other girls." She took a deep breath. "I'm a lesbian, Ace. There, I said it." 

"Oh." Ace took the older girl's hand in her own. "Do people give you grief about it?" 

"Only my parents. They think I just need to meet the right boy and that'll make me better." 

"There's nothing wrong with you," Ace said fiercely. "Don't ever think that." 

Shou Yuing squeezed Ace's hand. "Thanks." 

Ace opened her mouth to speak, and found she couldn't think what to say. She ought to say something sensitive and caring about how she understood — shared — her friend's feelings, but the words wouldn't come. 

"Yeah," Shou Yuing said, after a while. "Well, that's better than my coming-out speech usually goes. Most girls would've run a mile by now." 

"I'm not most girls," Ace said. "I'm Ace. And anyway, why would I run a mile? Not when I could be with you and you're so—" 

She broke off, feeling herself blushing. 

"Ace," Shou Yuing said in a tiny voice, "I think I'm going to kiss you." 

Ace felt as if she'd been pushing on a door and it had suddenly given way, sending her tumbling. "Do it," she said. 

Shou Yuing leaned forward and kissed Ace lightly on the mouth. 

There was a long silence, in which the two stared dumbly at each other, able only to hear the sound of their own breathing. Then Ace, equally slowly, returned the kiss. She felt Shou Yuing's lips curving into a delighted smile, and couldn't stop a matching smile spreading across her own face. A moment later they were both laughing as their joint tension found an outlet. 

"I don't believe it!" Shou Yuing said, once her laughter had subsided a little. "My gaydar actually worked. That's never happened before." 

"First time for everything," Ace said. "By the way, it isn't. I mean, it isn't the first time I've been with a girl." 

"I don't care. Just as long as tonight, that girl's me." 

"You're on." As she'd been longing to do ever since she'd stepped into the room, Ace reached out, whipped the tantalising towel away, and hurled it into the corner. Moments later, her own clothes were strewn across the room. "One thing," she said, as Shou Yuing leaned in for another kiss. 

"Yeah?" 

"I'm going on top. Because I'm Ace. Got that?" 

Shou Yuing hooked her leg around Ace's and pulled her down onto the bed. "We'll see about that," she said.


End file.
